A medical exoskeleton is often divided into two sections: the exoskeleton legs (which support the user's legs), and the remaining body of the exoskeleton (which supports the user's upper body). The location at which the exoskeleton legs and remaining body of the exoskeleton connect is called the torso-leg interface. If an exoskeleton is unable to separate at the torso-leg interface, the donning and doffing processes can be quite difficult and may require assistance from another individual. However, if the exoskeleton is modular and therefore can separate at the torso-leg interface, it has been shown that the donning and doffing processes can be performed independently by the exoskeleton user with increased ease.
Examples of modular medical exoskeletons include U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,190,141 B2 and 9,101,451, B2, and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0351995 A1. All three aforementioned examples explicitly discuss the concept of an exoskeleton that can be separated into components and configured in a plethora of embodiments (i.e., modular). However, U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,190,141 B2 and 9,101,451, B2 do not go into detail about the actual apparatus needed to connect and disconnect components of said modular exoskeleton. U.S. Application Publication No. 2015/0351995 A1 mentions that various components of a modular exoskeleton could be connected and disconnected by the user “on the fly”. However, the '995 publication provides very little detail about the structure of such a connection/disconnection apparatus and only briefly mentions that a connection interface exists and is “constituted by a simple bolted connection”. Thus, while the aforementioned patent documents teach a general desire for a modular exoskeleton, they do not teach infrastructure required to mechanically connect and disconnect components of a modular exoskeleton.